The applicant of the present invention disclosed a tape fastener as described in JP-A- 2001-149117, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,621. This tape fastener comprises a male tape made of a cloth tape on either side of which several synthetic resin male parts are moulded and fastened at certain intervals and a female tape made of a cloth tape on either side of which several synthetic female parts are moulded and fastened at the same intervals as the male parts. The male parts and the female parts are moulded and fastened on the cloth tapes, which are not provided with mounting holes. Each of the male parts has an engagement protrusion that stands upright directly from the cloth tape without the aid of a base. The male and female parts are preferably ring-shaped viewed from the front or the back.
This fastener was accepted favourably by the market and used in a variety of products. Applications, however, were limited to rectilinear closures. For this reason, this tape fastener could not meet the requests for using it for curvilinear closures. Examples of curvilinear closures include the crotch part of a baby's clothes (see FIG. 1) and the front opening part of a baby's clothes that also functions as a bib (see FIG. 2).